


speak low if you speak love

by dandaisie



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Friends to Lovers, M/M, music major chanyeol, theather major soo, too many musicals and plays references i am sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-02 18:08:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20809940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dandaisie/pseuds/dandaisie
Summary: Chanyeol and Kyungsoo one time find themselves stuck during the rain on a amphitheater, the rest comes with time.





	speak low if you speak love

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first time writing a fic, english is not my first language and this is unbeta-ed, sorry for any typos!

He would never have guessed that coming down to the amphitheater to fix some of the sound equipment would result in one of the strangest nights of his life. Torrential rain started pouring, and as everything in this campus, the amphitheater doors are automatic. So of course, the power went down, the doors closed, there was lightning and thunder, no signal on his phone.

He was trapped alone in the middle of the night with no way out, only because he wanted to be a good student and not procrastinate his duties to the theater department. Great, he was now procrastinating until the rest of his life as a mean of self preservation.

That was, until he sees Do Kyungsoo walking to the closed glass doors with his phone lantern on.

“Shit, shit, shit” he says punching his hands lightly against the glass.

“It’s closed” Chanyeol says loudly enough to scary Kyungsoo, who turns away from the door with a panicked look on his face and points his phone’s lantern on Chanyeol’s face.

“Park Chanyeol? What are you doing here?”

“Can you get that off my face for a s-second?” he is squinting his eyes in front of the light.

“Y-yeah, s-sure, s-s-orry” Kyungsoo sounds nervous and apprehensive, no wonder, he has just been surprised by a dark figure in a dark building during a thunderstorm, so Chanyeol doesn’t take it to heart.

“The power is down, so are phone signals and the door closed automa-”

“That I know already, I was here during the whole thing, I asked why are  _ you _ here”

“Problem with the equipment for the rehearsals, you guys are doing a musical so I had to fix it.”

His answer is whispered lightly in the air, with a slight of fear. He and Kyungsoo had talked, just a couple of technicalities here and there and meaningless jokes during rehearsals for the plays they both worked on through the years, it wasn’t enough to form any kind of strong relationship, but more than the necessary for Chanyeol to nurture a crush, because Kyungsoo was not only talented and committed to every single character he played, he was kind to his juniors and the staff, hardly ever forgot his lines and his voice was something Chanyeol hardly ever mentioned because he could never find the words to.

So of all people Chanyeol could get a crush on of course he gets his heart set on someone he is a little intimidated by and is way out of his league.

“What about you?” he asks in the hopes of filling the silence.

“Practice, they have soundproof cabins up in here” he points his phone’s light to the stairs “This time of the day is almost empty, so it’s perfect”

The silence settles in again, Kyungsoo looks uncomfortable from the little Chanyeol can see of his face, so he decides to babble away, in the worst case he will make a fool of himself, so there’s very little to lose.

“So, do you have any idea of what to do from now? It’s not like we can get away from here, the glass is very sturdy and there is no signal or wifi, even if someone comes they could not get in as much as we can get out, we’ll probably be stuck here until the power comes back up, but hey could be worse at least we have a bathroom and the vending machines upstairs, and I think we have some mattresses back here too, of course all windows are closed but it’s raining so it shouldn’t be very hot”

Chanyeol stops for a second, to take a breath, but when he lifts his own phone’s light he realises Kyungsoo is chuckling.

“Yeah” he says against the door, dragging the word slowly “could be worse, Park Chanyeol”

“So, what do you suggest we do here?”

“Are you taking advantage of the situation to pull a ‘Home Alone’ on a university facility, Park Chanyeol?”

“You know, Do Kyungsoo, I might be doing just that”

***

They climb the stairs with chests panting from laughter like little kids, for no reason at all, and share the change on their backpacks to buy cold sandwiches and iced tea from the vending machine, they sit on the floor to eat, their knees touch, both of their backs flat against the wall.

“Why were you here so late, if you still room with Sehun you live too far for this to be just a check up on equipment, right?” there are little spots of mayo on the top of Kyungsoo’s lips, that almost take away all of Chanyeol’s concentration, but he stills gets a little flustered that he knows who his roommate is - cause he is an acting junior -, and where they live.

“Yeah, but some of the trupe complained about sound quality so I had to come, this is actually a very sought out position in the sound engineering class. I have to do my best so I’d either have to come here tonight or tomorrow morning before the 9AM junior’s rehearsals”

Kyungsoo chuckles, which Chanyeol always takes as a victory.

“We both know you are not doing that” he nitpicks the sandwich in his hands a little more “God, I don’t even know how you stand to watch our rehearsals”

“You guys are really good-”

“It’s not that, the juniors are really hard working, is just that you are probably tired of hearing some kids perform the same songs over and over again, aren’t you a Music Production major? I suppose your thing was to be more creative”

“It is, but musicals are different than single music? They are more cohesive within themselves, reusing samples, sounds and lyrics within the whole structure and I really think albums should be like that sometimes, not just songs but have some sort of line of thought, a common denominator if you will, to make things more interesting and related.”

He is not aware of the way Kyungsoo keeps looking at him talk with amusement in his eyes.

“So do you like musicals?”

“Yeah”

“Which ones?”

“In the Heights is one of my favourites, also Hamilton even though I barely know american history, Wicked is great too and- wait, movies count?”

“Of course”

“Then both versions of Hairspray and all of Disney”

“Even High School Musical?”

“Will you judge me if I say yes?”

“I’d judge you if you didn’t”

That takes him by surprise, Kyungsoo has a very serious image around campus, he is as hardworking as someone can be, and Chanyeol has always seen him plays classical musicals and plays, but the image of him belting a rendition of ‘Breaking Free’ is too good to pass up.

“Ah, not you too, Chanyeol”

“Me, what?”

“You being one of these people that think I am the second coming of satan just because I am a performer who is a little shy at first”

“I didn’t say that”

“But you were thinking it, a lot of people do, I won’t hold it against you”

“Sorry, it’s just hard not to have that image when you are so focused and not many people know you, and you probably have made assumptions about me, it’s human nature, Kyungsoo”

“I just think you must spend too much on hair dye and too little on school supplies, since you are always running out of pens”

“See? All I did was be surprised that you enjoy high school musical and you are out here calling me shallow and saying I don’t put any effort into my education”

“Are you sure you aren’t a drama major?”

There is no bite in their comebacks, their bellies are full and they’re that good kind of relaxed you get between a meal and sleep, so their tongues are a little too loose and their eyes too bright, both clearly enjoying the feeling.

“But just so you know, you thinking I don’t enjoy High School Musical is one of the worst things people have said to me” he takes a deep breath and his voice acquires a different tone “When sorrows come, they come not single spies. But in battalions!”

“What?”

“Hamlet!”

“Did you guys ever do Hamlet?”

“No, I learned that on Shakespeare 101”

“Do you like the class?”

“It’s my favourite, the teacher makes really good debates and some of my classmates almost go at each other’s throats, it’s like UFC without the cable signature or maybe one of those National Geographic sequences where the lion rips the gazelle’s intestines”

“Really? Over plays that were written almost 500 years ago?”

“Yes, this week there was even broken glass over the homoerotic undertones of Hamlet”

“Are there homoerotic undertones on Hamlet?”

At that Kyungsoo looks at him with a funny expression, like faked pity.

“So many, little grasshopper” he taps Chanyeol gently on his thigh,  _ “So many” _

Chanyeol then bursts laughing and Kyungsoo follows soon after.

***

The brush their teeth in comfortable silence in one of the bathrooms, the storm still raging on outside.

On the backstage they find gym mats and a huge assortment of fabrics and set decorations, Kyungsoo gets some pillows from the production of “The first Queen”, everything is lit by their phones and envolved on the sound of rain, weirdly romantic. Chanyeol doesn’t know how he ended up lying on the backstage of his school’s amphitheater with the guy he’s been ogling since the first time he helped him adjust his mic and heard him sing.

“Oh, it just died” Kyungsoo sighs on his side, the sound is followed by a shuffle of fabrics against the linoleum floor, the light from his phone fading suddenly.

“Get a Galaxy next time, their battery lasts you know?” Chanyeol chuckles, glad to be on a subject he actually knows how to talk about “Unlike that bad designed thing you call a phone”

“Are you trying to recruit me to Samsung or something?” Kyungsoo shuffles again right beside him, Chanyeol becomes painfully aware of his surroundings. “I should just tell you, I know shit about phones, this was a gift”

“Really? You look kind of a tech geek?”

“Chanyeol, we talked about this, my main source of communication is email” another sigh “People see a pair of glasses and assume that I’m some sort of nerd when I am just blind as a bat”

“Sorry, I was just sort of messing with you. You don’t look like a tech geek at all and you dress like someone who can’t even type, so the email thing is an improvement”

“Enough calling me dumb, Park Chanyeol, go to sleep!”

“I don’t think I can”

“Why? The whole ‘Home Alone’ thing got to your nerves?”

“It might”

“Count sheep? Listen to the rain? Sing?”

“Nah, I think I might just play games on my phone, since I can cause it isn’t some poorly planned model who barely holds a charge after couple of months of usage-”

“I swear to all deities out there, Park Chanyeol, one more word about samsung and I’ll shove all six inches of amoled screen of your phone up your  _ ass _ ”

At this Chanyeol laughs, and commonly Kyungsoo follows right after, and perhaps, Chanyeol thinks that this, alongside the rain, might as well be music.

***

Kyungsoo arrives at his dorm a little after 8AM, he woke up with Chanyeol patting his back and telling him the power was back on, he hates how fast he put his guard down with the guy, but there was very little you could do when he had a soft spot for him since he helped with their Roh Kisoo production the year before.

“Where were you?” Baekhyun screams for the kitchen counter, a blue mug clenched tightly on his white knuckles.

“You know how desperate we were, I WAS GONNA CALL THE POLICE, and with that rain out there” this was Jongdae who was also white knuckled, but holding his phone.

“I am sorry it was not my fault, I was safe the whole time- Why are guys even up so early on a Saturday anyways?”

“WERE YOU, REALLY?” screams Baekhyun from the kitchen before muttering a timid “None of us remembered to turn off the alarms”

“YES, I swear I went practicing on the amphitheater building and with the rain the whole power went off, and the building is not as important as - let’s say the hospital -, so it doesn’t have a generator and the doors and windows were closed so I just slept there and waited it all out, I was in a locked space all night. I promise I am fine.”

“You were there the whole time alone? That is still dangerous-” Baekhyun is pinching the bridge of his nose like some rich dad in a tv show and Kyungsoo is his rebel son who ran away.

“I wasn’t alone”

Jongdae jumped from the couch and Baekhyun sprinted over their counter to look right into Kyungsoo’s eyes with their shocked faces.

“Do Kyungsoo you were up to some kinky stuff on the theater all night during a thunderstorm and you couldn’t even _ TELL US YOU WERE ALIVE? _ ” the way only Jongdae could hit high notes while simply speaking.

“I wasn’t up to anything, It was a coincidence and I couldn’t tell you because, like I said, phone and wifi were off so there was nothing to be done, I am sorry.” he slips his backpack on the floor soundly, even though he slept a good amount last night - as good as it gets on a gym mat in a hard floor - it’s Saturday and he needed his bed badly.

“Who was there with you, Kyungsoo?”

For the slight tilt in Baekhyun’s voice he can tell he suspects something and since Kyungsoo is shit at lying to them he just lays the cards on the table.

“Park Chanyeol, the audio guy” he says to them and closes the door to his room just seconds before they start squealing.

***

Compared to Friday night the rest of the weekend had been uneventful, Sehun had late practice on Fridays and had barely noticed Chanyeol’s absence at their dorm, which he was glad for - somehow he wanted to keep that whole evening for himself, unstained with other’s expeculations or interpretations - a little portion of happiness.

He believes in that even more when he sees Kyungsoo again on Monday morning with a hot beverage on his hand.

“Chanyeol, could please be the kindest person in the world and help me?” he whispers from the edges of the stage, where he sits cross legged.

“What do you want? Is it illegal?” Chanyeol thinks he should set boundaries to not make obvious that he’d do pretty much anything for Kyungsoo at this point.

“Drink this” a warm styrofoam cup is shoved into his hand

“I’ll ask again, is it illegal?”

“No-” he sighs into his side “I am being a baby and I hate this, but Junmyeon hyung won’t get out of my hair since I had a cold on opening night last season so, PLEASE” he presses the cup even further on Chanyeol’s hold.

He decides to be a show off and chugs the cup in a few seconds, is one of the big ones, a 500ml. Kyungsoo looks impressed, with eyes coming out of it’s sockets, he opens his mouth to say something but closes it as the sound of footsteps approaches them.

“Kyungsoo?”

“There, hyung, have it, but put it away from me, please”

Even though Chanyeol has seen Kyungsoo in plays multiple times he finds himself amazed, the way his eyes and expression had just changed in a mere second, how he just casually grabbed the empty cup out of Chanyeol’s hand to put it on Junmyeon’s and even the weird mannerisms he does with his mouth that show he’s clearly disgusted.

“I will, but please be committed okay, we can’t lose any member of the crew to the cold like last time, okay?” he reaches down to pat Kyungsoo’s head.

He leaves both of them alone with a nod to Chanyeol and his equipment.

“So, what was that?”

“What, you couldn’t taste it? I wish I was that lucky”

“Nah, I was just interested in swallowing it down quickly since it seemed pretty much life or death for you”

“Don’t worry, I usually don’t put that much emphasis on swallowing” the sentence has absolutely no bite or undertone, which makes it even worse “It’s one of his experiments to better improve throat health and voice condition, with ginger and ten other weird herbs that smell terrible and taste even worse”

“Does he make everyone on the cast take it?”

“He brings enough for everyone, but I am the only one he harasses”

“Why? Because of last year?”

“Yeah, he worries really easily”

At that two guys come up with identical cups in their hands sliding down the smooth floorboards with socked feet.

“Soo, you already downed yours?”

_ Soo? _

“Don’t you hate that stuff?”

They are Kyungsoo’s roommates, both actors playing the roles of Marcus on their Les Mis production, Baekhyun and Jongdae, Chanyeol knows them for years as the easiest mics to manage, as they both don’t really seem to need them.

“No, but Chanyeol was the kindest human being to me and drank it for me”

“Man, you drank that?” Baekhyun asks him, and unlike Kyungsoo, who feigns innocence, everything he says seems to have a double meaning.

“He asked” he answers with a shrug.

“Just because of that you drank half a liter of Junmyeon’s shitty natural medicine?”

“Ah Baekhyun, you know Kyungsoo makes men go to war for him every other day, no big deal” Jongdae said between gulps and disgusted faces.

“Hey, front and center, everyone!” a voice calls out from the middle of the stage and people start shuffling around the room, the actors start rising from the floor to go, but when Baekhyun and Jongdae turn away, Kyungsoo looks right into Chanyeol’s eyes.

“Thanks, I own you one” he then presses his palm flat in Chanyeol’s chest and follows his friends through the curtains.

“No problem” he manages to spit out in a puff of air, more than minutes after he went away.

***

“So, you’ve been talking to him?”

“We’ve always ‘talked’” he uses quotation marks “we are friends, Jongdae, we’ve known each other for the entirety of college and work on the same department in every single production, he has taped wires to my back, as he did to yours many times”

“But you’ve spent a whole night alone together in a enormous building” Jongdae deadpans.

“And you like him” Completes Baekhyun from the kitchen.

“I know” Kyungsoo has known that for a little while, but letting that information slip is out of question.

“Doesn’t that changes things?”

It does, it changes a lot cause even though they’ve talked a little before and joked occasionally on rehearsals - enough for a crush to develop and for Kyungsoo’s eyes to follow him anywhere in a room - now they were friends. 

Chanyeol mouths “Troy” everytime Kyungsoo makes eye contact with him on stage, keeps drinking all of his nasty tea and tickles him every time he’s messing with his mic’s wires, making him chuckle like a school boy. And Jongdae and Baekhyun know that Kyungsoo only spends time with people he likes, doing things he enjoys; that’s why they get matching grins one night they find both of them cooking in their dorm. “It has the bigger kitchen” Chanyeol says while holding out a spoon for Kyungsoo to taste. Their grins only grow bigger. It’s their little favors, and their shared lunches, the fact that Sehun has caught them too many times between screenplays and music sheets on Chanyeol’s bed, sharing headphones and an orange highlighter.

While Kyungsoo’s mind goes through all that, Baekhyun and Jongdae exchange a worried look over their plates.

“Well, for your sake, I hope it does” and it goes by like that.

***

It was the end of the spring semester and it had been raining for a couple of days, a rain that caught Kyungsoo by surprise and without an umbrella, Baekhyun and Jongdae were already there, so he made the relatively short walk from his class on foot and under a lot of water. Which lead to him being soaked to the bone, once the rain got potentially stronger as soon as he set foot out of his building.

He arrived to the set on time, but dripping wet and with fat raindrops on his glasses. Running towards the backstage he finds some leftover clothing and tries to dry himself, but his hair is still wet and so are his jeans, so when Junmyeon finds him a couple of minutes later with a steaming cup his arms are full of goosebumps and he's shaking.

“Kyungsoo- oh my god what happened?”

“The rain?”

He puts the cup down before he pinches the bridge of Kyungsoo’s nose with more force than it was necessary.

“You are a major component of this play, stop trying to give me a heart attack! Take care of yourself!”

He shoves the cup on Kyungsoo’s hand and leaves before anything else is said.

Kyungsoo runs to find Chanyeol behind the curtains - truth is, he really hates the stuff, but would’ve drunken it anyway for the sake of his health and Junmyeon’s peace of mind, but it gave him an excuse so he could talk Chanyeol up before rehearsals and more opportunities for them to meet, so he keeps doing it.

But as soon as Chanyeol notes his wet hair and drenched jeans he refuses straight away.

“Not to be the bad guy but” he stops mid sentence to run his hands through Kyungsoo’s hair, shaking water drops onto the floor “it looks like you might need it”

“You know what, you might be right, I do get colds easily and the weather has been shitty”

They sit there, on the sidelines, the tea being slowly drunk by small sips, until Chanyeol’s hand finds his hair again, for their size they are almost too soft, it’s endearing and Kyungsoo closes his eyes by reflex.

“Drink it up, lukewarm tea is the worst” he ceases the caress too quickly at that.

“Front and center, everybody!”

Kyungsoo gulps the rest of the mixture quickly, but still in disgust and stands up to leave when Chanyeol’s hand tugs at his sleeve.

“Hey, come by the dorm tonight, unless you have any plans” Kyungsoo quickly shakes his head, which makes his glasses bob and Chanyeol smile “Good, cause for once I have fresh vegetables to use on some comfort food”

“So are you recruiting me for free labor on your kitchen?”

“No, Kyungsoo, I can cook well enough” he smiles sideways “I am recruiting you to be fed, you look like you need some extra care after all this rain and with opening night coming up”

“And it’s _ your _ job to take care of me?”

“Sweets to the sweet, right?” he smiles again and lets Kyungsoo’s sleeve go.

For the rest of the day his head is an intense loop of  _ cute boy who is nice and offers to cook for me and worries for my health and knows Hamlet? _ ** _ How dare he?_ **

***

At night, after a very productive Shakespeare class where this one girl made a very compelling point of throwing her copy of Taming of the Shrew on the trash after the lesson, Kyungsoo finds himself staring at a dorm door that isn't his own. A couple of seconds after he knocks he finds a confused Sehun on the other side of the door with a backpack on his shoulders.

“Hi, hyung” he lets Kyungsoo in to leave immediately after “Bye, Hyung” and then proceeds to close the door with a bang.

“Is it personal?” he says to a concentrated Chanyeol over a boiling pan “Me coming and him leaving?”

“No, when I told him you were coming he said that was good cause he had to practice some things late into the night and it’s probably crashing on some friends anyway”

“Why is it good that I was coming? Is he scared that you are going to burn the kitchen?”

“He only says that to mess with me, he eats everything I cook”

“He eats everything. Period.”

“Shut up I am being nice here coddling you and-” he shrugs at Kyungsoo with distaste “You didn’t change since morning?”

“No-o I had a late class and came straight away”

Cleaning his hands on a kitchen rag, Chanyeol leaves him with the pots and pans.

Kyungsoo examines the room one more time, he has been here before too many times, crumpled up on the couch and sometimes on Chanyeol’s bed with papers, pens and headphones - reading his lines, helping with his music by letting him record his whistles one time and sometimes just doing nothing, but never cooking, since living on a triple his counter space is way bigger and he has more outlets, but here is somewhat cozy - with hanging pots and pans, a matched dinner set of blue plates and thick glasses (which were all thanks to Chanyeol’s mom).

“Here” Chanyeol says a moment later, picking up the bag from Kyungsoo’s hand and putting the clean clothes instead.

“Chanyeol they are dry now, you didn’t have too”

“No, the jeans are still humid, I know they don’t dry quickly especially on a weather like this, you aren’t the first guy to forget his umbrella”

Defeated, he sighs.

“Thanks, go change, it’s almost ready”

Chanyeol’s room is a stylistic choice, to say the least, there are too many band posters on the walls and cables, on top of cables, on top of cords, on top of music paraphernalia. His standard university shelves are filled with cds and expensive speakers, it screams Chanyeol in a lot of ways along with the messy rumple of clothes on his chair and pictures of friends, family and movie tickets on his pegboard. There’s one straight line of pictures among the mess of the board showing all the plays were he was working alongside the theater department, Roh Kisoo from the last spring, The first queen for the fall semester, then Julius Cesar and classic greek ones. The smile on Kyungsoo’s face is a reflex at this point.

He has left a pair of sweats on Kyungsoo’s arms, simple and soft black, probably too big on him anyways, but if feels nice and warm against his skin and there are some softer spots where he thinks Chanyeol sprayed a little bit of his perfume to mask the fact that he buys the cheap fabric softener that smells like old bread, the strong punch of Chanyeol’s smell against his nostrils makes him a little dizzy, which is devastating.

The rest of the night is even more devastating as they eat the chicken soup from pretty plates and silverware - as college students that’s a luxury dinner - and drink iced peppermint tea, Kyungsoo washes the dishes and Chanyeol’s pack leftovers and talks about his classes and one brilliant classmate of his that used crushed leaves on his latest sample, Kyungsoo tells him about Shakespeare 101’s girl.

“Honestly what goes on that class? Broken glass, books on the trash bin, what’s next, spilled wine, like a Mexican show?”

“We can’t bring alcohol into school facilities, but if we could, there probably would be”

“All that over plays?”

“It’s the drama department, it’s literally in the description”

“So have you ever gotten into an intellectual fight?”

“Of course not, I do love plays but I am not the intellectual type, I mostly try to analyze what the characters feel and why they feel that way, with an actor’s point of view, not a critic’s, but I enjoy the debates and after some of them I can definitely understand some characters better.”

“Like who? Tell me, I want to understand this-” as Chanyeol’s scoots closer to him on the couch he feels a blush creep up on his face.

“Okay I am going to talk a lot now, cause that’s a thing that I really love so bare with me for a second, got it?” Their eyes never leave each other’s and he nods eagerly. “Scripts are amazing, for plays and for movies, but they don’t reflect only the character but also the author, every transition is the manifestation of the writer’s perspective and that always influences on the character, whether is it their historical period, political position or favourite food. We write about what we know. So when, let’s say, Jordan Peele writes about the institutionalized racism in the US and the metaphors in Get Out for overly friendly white family, the police’s presence and picking cotton are direct translations of what he thinks about things, when Miranda writes about Washington Heights, Park Chan Wook when he takes a novel that is set on medieval England and translates that into Colonial Korea. If you know the author's’ intention is easier to know the character’s, that’s why people still remake the classics, cause no one know what were the intentions and everyone plays a different version of the characters. Shit, that even happens in more modern plays, cause no play is ever read the same way twice - no person has the same opinion and no person reads with the same mindset more than one time, and the especially with movies since every shot is different and the editing counts for a lot and the actor’s perspective is as subjective as the author and even the director you know, that’s why we fight about it sometimes, cause no one knows the right way and we all really want to be right”

In the middle of his speech he started to look down and fiddle with the strings of the borrowed sweater, soon after Chanyeol’s hand found his and he started to fiddle with his fingers instead. Now he’s flushed from so much emotional talk and exposing his feelings about things, which makes him a little nervous.

“You were literally born for that, weren’t you?” it is said between small puffs of air, like he didn’t mean to say it aloud.

His eyes lift their laced slowly and tenderly so he can stare into Chanyeol’s eyes for a while.

“For what?”

“Acting, plays, movies, the stage.” he squeezes his hand tight “You are going to be amazing wherever you end up”

“Now it’s your turn” Kyungsoo says, not to try to stir the conversation away from him, but in genuine interest in Chanyeol and his music. “Why music?”

Chanyeol goes red on the cheeks and on the tips of his ears, shifts on his seat and his eyes dance around the room - strangely he never lets go of Kyungsoo’s hand.

“I can’t even say that it’s complicated, because it really isn’t, I tinkered with instruments my whole life, I like singing and one time there was a lecture on my school of this guy that was a producer and he told us how he created a song and I got obsessed. I started looking videos and articles up, I started watching every single musical I could and hanging around the old rental cd store like a creep and today here I am”

He gets a poke on his ribs for that.

“Tell me more, you got me breathless from talking so much, give me something more personal”

“Like what?”

“Since you’ve been here what are your inspirations, what do you write about?”

“We write about we know, Kyungsoo”

“And what do you know? And please be your normal talkative self”

“I have a lot of public transportation samples, libraries, pen on paper, 24/7 convenience stores, sometimes round tables discussions, and lots of rain too. More rain than I can deal with. I like to mess with drums too and heavy strings, I work with some really good vocal majors, even with your friends one time. But when it comes to lyrics it’s your generic stuff, being away from family, doubting your worth on a creative field, thinking everyone knows something you don’t or has a talent that you don’t, feeling lonely, drinking too much sometimes, sleeping alone in the winter.”

Their hands are still linked and Kyungsoo’s thumb is now caressing the back of his hand.

“Let’s watch something, a musical so I can criticize their acting and you their piano usage, sounds good?” he asks too eagerly to mask the heaviness of the previous topic.

“Yeah, you pick”

They end up watching High School Musical, both were too quiet for a disney movie, their hands still linked. Chanyeol fell asleep to a pop song about fighting labels and Kyungsoo to the song of a boy he suspects he likes too much snoring softly on his shoulder.

***

Chanyeol’s been worried. Since the day he had woken up from sleep holding hands with Kyungsoo in his couch they were different with each other, more lingering looks and fond touches. During that night Chanyeol was nothing but a perfect gentleman, offering to walk him home despite the hour, which Kyungsoo denied, he wanted to sleep over. And so he did, after Chanyeol dug him a spare toothbrush and a spare pillow, he even was ready to point him to Sehun’s bed and go off to his own bedroom, but before he could form a coherent sentence he had asked Kyungsoo if after all that talk he would really let him sleep alone on the cold again. Kyungsoo shook his head.

He took the comforter out his bed sheets with shaking hands, and soon after they were laying in the dark, side by side, staring in the blackness of each other’s faces.

“I am sorry you’ve been sleeping alone in the cold for this long” for once Kyungsoo’s voice seemed to shake with anticipation.

“It’s okay, it’s warmer with the two of us here” he must have said something right cause that morphed their strange staring position into a hug, that later became what is known as “cuddles”.

And since Sehun found them draped over each other Saturday morning, dry drool on chins and hairs messy, there was a shift to their dynamic.

Chanyeol now waits Kyungsoo outside of his Shakespeare classes every Friday and they walk to one of their dorms - Chanyeol also has a toothbrush on Kyungsoo’s, a fact that’s hidden from Baekhyun and Jongdae -, Kyungsoo even talks with his mom one time to ask for a specific recipe for Chanyeol’s birthday because they are broke and can’t afford a fancy dinner, Chanyeol show one of lyrics’ notebooks to him, they cook together, none of them sleeps alone in the cold anymore.

Slowly other people start to notice their little world, Junmyeon asks Chanyeol to give Kyungsoo his daily poison every time, Sehun calls Kyungsoo his other roommate. Even Minseok, they play’s director, asks Kyungsoo whenever he needs to talk with “your tall audio boy, Soo”.

And that’s good, that’s great. Now he has a warm hand to hold, arms that curl around him when he falls asleep, a laughter he would move heavens and earth for and they all belong to Kyungsoo. It’s too good to be true. Really. But they never kiss or do anything more than that, an over affectionate friendship, but not something more. Something more comes with expectations and responsibilities and the possibility of a heartbreak and Chanyeol thinks Kyungsoo is even more smart, talented and committed than he ever realized, so how can he even match? No matter how many lines from plays he tries to memorize to impress him they can never match, Kyungsoo is probably going to win major prizes one day, adorn big and small screens alike. Chanyeol’s biggest dream is to maybe have one of his songs play on the radio, he lacks the ambition to become a famous name, he just wants a name under music that’s his.

“Hey, your boyfriend asked me to ask you for the thing you said to give to him?” one of the choreo guys asks him one day during rehearsals.

“Ah” Chanyeol says while reaching for his pockets and handing the kid a small honey package “And he’s not my boyfriend”

“Really?” he sports a mocking expression “Then why you bring him honey and he has you as his lock screen? And how did you know exactly who I was talking about?”

Chanyeol blushes.

“JONGIN?” an exasperated voice calls from the front of the stage.

“CALM DOWN XING-HYUNG I AM JUST GETTING SOO-HYUNG HIS BOYFRIEND’S HONEY”

Chanyeol blushes even harder when he sees no reaction from Kyungsoo from a slit in the curtains, and he receives his text consisting of _ thanks, chanyeol, sorry if jongin is annoying i am just too tired to walk over there _ even before Kyungsoo opens the honey packet to put on his tea.

***

The opening night is a blur, Chanyeol is recruited by the prop team to carry fake swords and he sees the costume team go crazy with last minute adjustments and all the actors look a little green - Kyungsoo is out of nails, Baekhyun threw up a little and their Cosette, a senior named Sunyoung, is fanning herself with a pizza package. He makes sure to wish everyone good luck while taping and testing their mics.

“What, no tickle this time?”

“Honestly, you seem to be shaking enough without my help”

Kyungsoo chuckles and goes to the stage.

The play is really good, they knew it from the start, it has been prepared for months, the vocal team is great and the choreography is an interactive one where the revolution soldiers creep up at the audience - it’s a team effort, and a hell of a good one.

After all the show they gather backstage, a small assortment of fast food, cause it’s also exam week and they are running a little desperate. They make fun of each other’s costumes and how nervous they were, even though tomorrow is gonna be the same thing, their other actors already nervous after this night’s success and the ones who already performed reassuring them.

It’s a fun night and everyone is in high spirits, especially a tipsy Chanyeol who barely registers when Kyungsoo comes up to him at the end of the night, with a flushed face to kiss his cheek good night and wish him good luck with his project due tomorrow. The way they linger on each other’s arms is everything but accidental.

***

Les Mis is a big hit, the teachers seem to love the play. Kyungsoo is a brilliant Javert and so is Junmyeon on the days the scale changes - during those Kyungsoo climbs on the audio booth to sit beside Chanyeol with the excuse of studying for some test or working on a project and he thinks it’s even better than watch Kyungsoo perform.

It’s the last day and it's raining. Chanyeol is in charge of putting the equipment away, and Kyungsoo offers to help while singing bad renditions of Own My Own. Sometimes their legs bump or hands touch and it's honestly quite awful, cause Chanyeol wants to hold his hand and lace their legs together, not this awkwardness, they are going to sleep together for the first time since the play started.They were both so busy with not only that but exams and deadlines, the most they could do was nice texts before tests and a post it on Kyungsoo’s capricorn themed flash drive that said  _ “u GOAT this! _ ”.

Every molecule of Chanyeol's body is vibrating with energy as they leave the empty amphitheater, they are bone tired, but it's barely eleven on a Friday night so there's a lot of motion on campus. They walk the long way to Chanyeol's dorm almost swollen by their coats since it's been a horribly cold month.

“You know you'd have probably gotten sick if it wasn't for the tea?”

“Never say this in front of him! But how could I get sick with you and Junmyeon shoving almost an entire forest down my throat” he fake sights while they entered the dorm building, the few students hanging around are already familiar with Kyungsoo’s face “I missed the Chanyeol that would drink terrible tea for me”

“Too bad, worried Chanyeol is here to stay”

Arriving at the dorm, Kyungsoo eyes almost jump out of their sockets.

"Wait, Chanyeol, did you deep clean for me?"

"A little" Chanyeol shrugs "You haven't been here in awhile, thought I might try to cause a good impression"

"A little too late for that, where's Sehun?"

"End of exams party with his friends"

"Is he going to comeback drunk at 3AM?"

"Nah, he drinks very well for a freshman and I think he is even gonna sleep there"

Sehun always sleeps away when Kyungsoo is over, even though he knows from Chanyeol's constant complaints that nothing happens besides real sleeping.

"Go ahead, shower first"

Chanyeol finds this strange since Kyungsoo is always too eager to shower after a busy day.

"Why?"

"I brought tea, a good one, expensive and meant to help with the stress and to sleep better?”

“Is it a thanks for all the organic honey I got you?”

“Kind of” he chuckles to himself while opening cupboards “Go shower, Chanyeol, I got this”

Chanyeol knows this isn’t a regular thing friends do, the favors and support? Yeah of course - he also brings Sehun coffee when he is down and comes to his plays and recitals and also knows that Kyungsoo learned to bake a cake for Jongdae’s birthday cause Baekhyun’s laptop broke and they couldn’t afford to buy one. But the constant dates and being around each other doing all sorts of things that evolved into cuddling and studying, holding hands on campus, and falling asleep on each other’s shoulder in theater seats.

“Soo, your turn!”

They drink tea in the living room, and lounge around for a couple of hours, Kyungsoo conveniently forgot a shirt and is wearing one of Chanyeol’s - that happens so often he finally got the nerve to buy the expensive fabric softener that smells like mint and lime.

As if in a haze they go to bed, a new tension between their bodies, the sounds of life outside the room too loud for the delicacy of the moment. Things seem much more fragile in the dark.

“Chanyeol” Kyungsoo face is just a couple of centimeters from his, even in the dark he can tell.

“Y-yeah”

“I am too scared to do it” he practically sighs, the air between them suddenly warm and smelling of toothpaste “I’m still a little shy, please do it”

“To do what, Soo?”

“You kn-”

“Maybe I’m shy too, you know?”

“On the count of three then?”

“Like little kids?”

“It’s not the first time you make me feel like a little kid anyway”

“One, two, three-”

It’s hardly ever perfect, it’s a little messy and uncoordinated, but soft in both ends and no kiss probably could have lived up to their expectations.

“Still shy?”

“Trust me, if you could only see my face right now” he chuckles slightly “I am bound upon a wheel of fire”

“What?”

“Shakespeare”

“He seems to have a line for everything doesn’t he?”

“Maybe”

“Maybe he even has one for what I am feeling right now-”

“No, I’d rather hear about that with your own words”

“I can’t even think of any right now”

“Then kiss me”

“That will make me ability to think even smaller”

Kyungsoo chuckles, and they fall into the position they are so accustomed at this point, arms over each other and legs laced together.

“Then let’s not think for a while, okay?”

Their faces are again too close together, tangible anticipation in their tones.

“That’s exactly what I was hoping for”

So they don’t think for the duration of the night, but they surely do kiss a lot.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> the shakespeare works mentioned are king lear, hamlet and much ado about nothing in the title. :)


End file.
